Tabs

Monday, July 12, 2010

Yesterday I paid a visit to a number of fountain pen shops in Tokyo. In one of them –a big one— I saw this nib I am very fond of. The display window had this Nakaya Piccolo with a beautiful soft-elastic M nib. These nibs are mostly made to order and, therefore, Nakaya craftsmen attending events do not have them for you to buy them on the spot.

I asked the clerk if I could try it:–Sure, no problem--, and there I went.“Nice pen”, I thought when writing the first letters. But soon afterward I realized it was not all that flexible. “Is it the pen or me?”

So, I asked if I could try the Pilot Custom 742 with the size-10 falcon nib. Oh! That was totally different. That was really flexible—at least, for a modern pen. What a difference with the elastic Nakaya nib!

Pilot's Falcon nibs in sizes 10 and 15.

I also tried the bigger size-15 falcon nib in the Custom 743. Nice as well, but not so flexible as the size-10, just as Leigh Reyes reported on her blog. And that poses some interesting questions indeed.

So, what should I choose, the wonderful looks of an urushi pen or a wonderful nib in a boring pen? The price of those stunning looks is almost three times that of the sweet nib!

The champion nib.

This time, I went for the champion nib.

(Pilot R Lever Filler 1956 – Pelikan Brilliant Brown)

Bruno Taut(Inagi, July 12, 2010)[labels: Pilot, Platinum, plumín]

Post data: Not everything was as nice and beautiful as I described here. There were a number of problems with this nib. They are described on the chronicles entitled Verdict (September 7, 2010), and Inadequate (September 21, 2010).